Prague Auschwitz advice please

[red rocket]

Just toying with the idea of a trip to Prague & then onto Auschwitz wondered if anybodies got any advice on routes & where to stay.
I'll be taking the wife so it'll be hotels around £50 a night no more hopefully.

How bad are the horror stories about the roads out that way wouldnt mind too much if on my own .
We'll have 2 weeks so where after Auschwitz ?Transalvania ?or other parts of Poland again anybody recomend hotels .
Don't want to ride all the way to Auschwitz & turn round & come back into France etc if there's must see places out that way.
So if anybodies got a circuit they did I'd appreciate it failing that I guess it's the Dolomites or French Alpes again

R.R.

 

[alimey4u2]

Auschwitz-Birkenau is a must see, I found it to be the saddest & most moving place I had ever been to. It changed my concept of humanity.
Try to hear the birds sing, they stopped over half a century ago.....

Roads aren't too bad but the drivers are......

 

[Losttheplot]

I can recommend the Wieliczka salt mines just outside of Krakow, which are under an hours drive from Auschwitz! Over the past centuries the miners have carved chapels and statues into the salt rock down there. It's fantastic.

Just been having a clear up at home (a rare occassion), and i've found a tourist guide and street map to Krakov (includes Auschwitz as well as other places),
and also a road map to poland that your more than welcome to, if it will help plan your trip.

You could spend a few days just looking around Krakow on it's own..

Just PM your address over and i'll stick them in the post.

Nathan

Beer is about 95p a pint on most Krakow bars....

 

[Taff]

Can't help you with Prague I'm afraid, but in Poland I stayed at the Hotel Galicja (N50 02 16.6 E19 14 40.9) about a 10 mins taxi ride from Auschwitz. Very smart hotel and the owner (a biker himself) built a double garage just to house motorbikes. The day we visited, it was sweltering so I was glad that we'd decided to leave the bikes at the hotel and just taxi it. The sheer size of Birkenau (about a 5 mins ride by shuttle bus from Auschwitz main camp N50 01 42.9 E19 12 19.0) is mind blowing and trust me you don't want to walk around it all in full bike gear. Allow yourself a full day - and even then don't expect to see all of it. To get the most out of a visit, I suggest you do a bit of homework on the place before you go.

If you're in the area, the Wieliczka Salt Mines (N49 59 11.6 E20 03 05.2) were well worth a visit (but change out of bike boots as you will walk for miles and decend the biggest staircase you've ever seen - took about 20 - 25 minutes to get to the bottom and no exaggeration). Krakow is a gorgeous city and I really wish I'd spent a full day there. Don't start ogling the Polish girls - as it will make you go blind.

I had been warned that Warsaw was to be avoided, but personally I found it far more impressive than I was expecting. Again I didn't spend as long there as I would have liked. In comparrison to Krakow it is the poor relation, but its still worth a visit. You make your own mind up.

For me at least another highlite of the trip to Poland was the Wolfs Lair (N54 04 44.5 E21 29 35.9) Hitlers HQ during the invasion of Russia and set by the Mazurian Lakes nr Ketrzyn in North East Poland. If you do visit there - take mosquito repellant. Just don't ask how I know.

 

[Jacal]

We did the Castle route thro Germany to Prague a couple or three years back......SUPERB, Found the roads in the Czech Rep to be challenging especially hitting the ruts at motorway speeds but just made it interesting.

Don't forget about Colditz, definitely worth a visit.

 

[ANDY888]

Stay away from Poland. I'm only a couple of weeks back from there, and it's not a great biking experience. All roads and I mean all roads seem to be very heavily congested with heavy goods vehicles and cars. Nowhere in a north to South journey through Poland did we escape. With that in mind here's my advice. ps it's not cheap either.

Go to Auschwitz and Bikenhau by all means but travel down the length of Poland inside the Chez border. Much much better place for a bike. When you get down to the Auschwitz area jump across the border and see the former camp. We stayed in Krakov, which was a good place to stop over, but a bit large, so you need to get into the centre to see round the 'good bits'.

After that either go back out to the Chez, or go south to Slovakia. You'll be releived to do so believe me. After that I run out of wisdom as I've never been to Transalvania. But (having met a fellow biker on route) returning back through the Chez on the opposite side or up the middle would be my choice.

Tip 1 for Prague, buy a day pass on the underground which covers the trams and a wee funicular railway. (saved us miles of walking)

Tip 2 for Prague go to Kutna Hora (church of bones as in long way round)
it's aboot 37miles ESE of Prague. church is calle Konstanice (or something like that)

 

[Greg Masters]

I really like Poland and Auschwitz is a 'must see'.

Don't miss Birkenau (only about 1km away) - this was the real 'death camp' (but don't let me give you an impression that nobody died at Auschwitz):

.

Further north, just outside Zagan, is the site of Stalag Luft III - from whence begat The Great Escape. It pretty overgrown now, but the line of the 'Harry' tunnel has been marked out:

Nearby there is a memorial built by the PoWs to the 50 who were executed:

As others have said, the Polish roads are very crowded and often with deep ruts due to the HGVs that thunder along them day and night. It's not the safest of countries for a biker.

Enjoy your trip.

Greg

 

[Gooner1200]

Do it!

Ref Poland. I went last year and it was superb. had a great time, great people and the roads are not that bad. My blog tells all.....

Have a read.....but above all don'y believe any of the doom mongers.....for a start its not an adventure if it is all plain sailing. If people want great roads and great hotels then take a trip to Paris and come back again.

My blog is on. http://web.mac.com/stevegarton/iWeb...log/25FABB16-A924-4B06-B8A0-58783154DA09.html You will have to cut and paste into your web browser.

 

[Rushy]

Earlier this year

We rode across Poland from the Lituanian border through their Lake Distict area and across to Berlin.

The B roads we were on were challenging but great fun ( even two upand loaded) in the East , the scenery quite English but without the smaller divided fields, the people were very friendly, beer was well cheap and we had a great time. One of our group, Hayley, had only ridden about 750 miles since passing her test before the big trip. Andy888 is quite right about the major arterial roads , they can have quite a lot of lorries and heavy traffic on them but we managed to avoid quite a lot of these in the East.

We stayed in 2 hotels and one was quite basic and very 70's but immaculately clean and with garaging for the bikes , the other was a large family run hotel in atown called Walcz with very high standards and a security guard looking after the car park who insisted we parked right next to his hut. Both hotels were around or under £50 and even spirits from the very nice bar of the second were cheap.

We all said ( 3 girlies and 5 blokes) we would definitely go again

Hotel in Walcz

 

[Globerider]

Try Budapest 'Paris of the East' !!

I have removed your post Globerider as non-sponsors may not advertise on the site.

Aidan1150

 

[FERRET]

as all have said Auschwitz and Birkenau a must, about 200yds from Auscwitch is a place called Centre for Dialogue and Prayer in Oswiecem, tel. 44 33 843 10 00, it is a catholic institution. I stopped there in 2006, ime by no way religous and we camped in the grounds, they also do rooms so this is a possibility for you trip, it is a 10 minute walk from the main gates of Auswich and ther is a free shuttle bus to Birkenau. I would also recommend using a guide as there is so much to the place which i feel you would miss.
From there we then went onto a place called Zakopane, where the held the winter Olympics superb place, loads of cheap hotels and you can take cable cars up into the Tatra Mountains, superb scenery.
hope this is of some help , enjoy youre trip

ferret